Pennink Wins All-American Series SK Modified At Stafford

STAFFORD — In 2014 bad luck was the calling card in an SK Modified for Rowan Pennink through the opening stages of the season at Stafford Motor Speedway.

The story has been quite the opposite for the Huntingdon Valley, Pa., driver in 2015. Last year Pennink finished outside the top-10 in his first five starts of the season before going on to win five events.

Friday Pennink kept up the heated roll that began with a victory in the season's opening event at Stafford on April 26.

Preece, of Berlin, was second and Joey Cipriano III of Waterbury third.

The dramatics at the front of the field were nearly constant from start to finish.

Ted Christopher took the lead early in the event and held that spot for the first half of the race as Glen Reen and Michael Gervais Jr. made bids to take over the top spot.

Reen went by Christopher for the lead on lap 20, but a lap later Cipriano went under both Christopher and Reen to move to the front.

On lap 32 Christopher used a bottom shot into turn one to move back into the lead past Cipriano. A lap later Pennink went by Cipriano for second.

On lap 34 Pennink dived under Christopher off turn four to take over the lead, with Cipriano moving to second. Contact between Preece and Christopher in a battle for third left Christopher flattened against the front-stretch wall on lap 36.

Preece went by Cipriano for second on lap 37, but by then Pennink had checked out enough to easily roll to the checkered.

"It was a really exciting race," said Pennink, who started 13th. "It was tough getting through there, everyone running side-by-side. It was either make it three-wide or hope your lane was going to go. Our lane pulled through."

Said Preece: "We have a real good car. We're making gains on it and I'm real happy."

Tom Fearn, of East Longmeadow, Mass., went by Tom Butler for the lead on lap seven and then drove off for his second consecutive victory in the 30-lap Late Model feature Friday at Stafford.

Division points leader Michael Bennett of Stafford was second and Butler, of Stafford, third.

Nick Salva of Prospect won the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature. Fourteen-year-old Zack Robinson of Putnam won his first career event in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.

Pocono Qualifying

Kurt Busch survived NASCAR's version of bump day to beat the clock and the rest of the field.

Busch turned a lap at 177.599 mph Friday and won the pole at a bumpy Pocono Raceway in a bizarre qualifying session that saw five cars fail to complete a lap in the final round.

Denny Hamlin bobbled and lost control of the No. 11 Toyota as the qualifying clock ticked down to bring out the red flag. With only 39 seconds left in the third round, NASCAR scrubbed the rest of qualifying. Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne all failed to record a lap time.

Logano was on the track and seemed poised to nip Busch for the pole until the red flag was waved.

"Because a car spins out and they throw a red flag for it and then you don't get an opportunity to go out and make a lap, I don't understand it," Logano said. "It makes me mad. I don't get it. We didn't even have a chance to try to put our car up front."

The reason: There simply wasn't enough time left on the clock for the remaining cars to complete a lap under green. Busch's pole-winning lap was run in 50.676 seconds.